Having learnt my Acros while living in Indonesia, I’ve grown up as an inshore reef stony coral freak because offshore reefs conditions are almost impossible to find in Indonesia. Even though we can find some of the species there, they…
Pavona varians: The Underrated King of Plasticity
I’m often asked, what is my favorite coral, and I have to admit, most of the time, an Acro crosses my mind. But yesterday, I came across one more time, of a coral, Pavona varians that I’ve seen quite many…
Phymastrea colemani, A New Indo-Pacific Coral Genus, That You May Already Have In Your Tank!
Phymastrea a New Genus? Following some massive changes in coral nomenclature, after some research activity carried out by members of the international ‘Scleractinian Systematics working Group’. This group is using new morphologic and molecular genetics analyses and have ended up…
Dipsastraea matthaii Is The Cutest Little Favia!
Dipsastraea matthai is a pretty common coral in the trade. It’s often misidentified as Micromussa. And it was recently moved from Favia that is now exclusively Atlantic genus, to the new Dipsastraea which has been created for its Indopacific members…
Stylocoeniella Is A Great Reef Aquarium Coral!
Stylocoeniella is an underrated family of amazing aquarium corals, which, often end up in the aquarium world as a hitchhiker along other corals or live rock. This genus is part of an even more discreet, unheard of family: Astrocoeniidae that…
Montipora: A Practical Guide to the Variety of Forms Part 1
If there is a group of coral, where we find ourselves struggling to properly identify to the species level, that’s Montipora! Montipora are probably the most popular coral right after Acropora, it’s a fast growing, very colorful group of SPS…
North Sulawesi Is Home To Some Of The Biggest Live Coral Colonies
North Sulawesi Coral Colonies We keep on going back and forward to North Sulawesi. Manado, Bunaken and Bangka, enjoy a tremendous diversity of coral life. The more we go there, the more we learn about this place, and the more…
Hoeksemai Acro is the King of Blue Staghorn Corals!
Acropora hoeksemai is a gorgeous blue staghorn Acro which been a classic Indonesian coral, produced in the thousands through mariculture. So you would think that this coral is probably available all over the world right now, through frag sellers, but its…
Alveopora are NOT a Flowerpot Coral After All!
Following our series of articles on changes in coral classification after a massive genetic analysis, there is one more coral that got moved in quite a surprising way – Alveopora. Alveopora used to be the flowerpot coral with 12 fat tentacle,…
What Happened to the Symphyllia?
Recently in Australia, a good friend asked us to check some of his very nice rainbow Symphyllia he’s got. We didn’t recall seeing any in Australia yet, so we were very intrigued. We love rainbow Symphyllia, the ones we get…